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The Making of a Small Town Beauty King by Savy Leiser – BOOK REVIEW

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion in any way*

This book takes place in the run up to the local fair and beauty pageant in a small town, Grey Acres. It’s told from a third person narrative and follows several characters, predominantly Jackie, longing to do something to make his college application “stand out”, and Steph, a girl who would do anything to escape the pressure from her Mum to enter (and win) the pageant. Because there were multiple main characters, I thought a third person narrative worked really well and allowed the reader to follow the plotline clearly and pick up on information which may not have been said if it was told from a first person point of view.

Things I liked:

I loved how this was a quick and funny read. I read this in just over an hour and it was light-hearted which made it very enjoyable to read. I think this would be a great book for a reading slump!

The messages were also perfect! Friendship, feminism and expectations (particularly gender expectations) were all key themes in this book and I think this made it very relatable to me, and would be to any other teenager.

Linked into the previous point is that I love Steph. Steph is a strong female character (which we need in more novels!) and really did appreciate that! The points she was making about beauty pageants are so true and it was refreshing to see such a confident character who was not afraid to stand up for what she believed was right.

*This might sound incredibly weird* but I liked the fact it was set in a rural town with pumpkin farming and local stores etc. I don’t know why but it made me feel closer to the characters because of the smaller setting and made it believable and realistic. Grey Acres sounds very similar to where I live which made me agree with everything the characters were saying – like YES I WANT TO GET AWAY FROM THIS BORING TOWN AND GO TO UNIVERSITY TOO YES YES YES!

Overall, this was a well-written, short read which I really enjoyed! It’s a shame the book wasn’t any longer so I could get to know the characters a bit more and I would love to see how their friendships and characters developed. The themes were spot on and also the events that took place were creative and imaginative! It was something a bit different to other books I read so that made a great change. I would recommend! A great debut novel and I can’t wait to read what Savy Leiser writes next!

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Hi, my name’s Marie, I’m 23 years old and I love to blog about books! I particularly love YA and Feminist/LGBTQ+ reads, but read a lot of different genres. I’m also a fan of musicals, art and crafts, mental health activism, and bullet journalling, so you’ll see a sprinkle of that from time to time ❤